$76m BASA Funds Rot In CBN

As the nation’s airports and aviation services continue to cry for more attention the Federal Ministry of Aviation yesterday disclosed that the $76 million Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) funds meant for provision of infrastructure at the nation’s airports is still lying fallow  in the coffers  of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

But the Ministry was also only able to put less than 30% of its 2010 budgetary allocation to work.

The  Permanent Secretary of Federal Ministry of Aviation, Ann Etta  and the Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation  Authority (NCAA), Harold Dumuren made this known while briefing the Senate Committee on Aviation during an interactive session held at the National Assembly complex.

Dumuren  told the Sylvester Anyanwu -led committee that the BASA funds were still stashed in the bank because none of the airline operators had so far expressed interest in accessing the fund.

His words, “We have $76 million in that account with Central Bank of Nigeria and nobody has touched it, the money is intact.”

According to Ann Etta, the Ministry and its agencies including the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria College of Aviation Territory (NCAT)  could only to access  the sum of N14,826,719,995.56, out of the N45.997 billion appropriated for them in the 2010 Appropriation.

She explained that N14.9 billion was expended on  projects  including the  installation of 10 3D Rapiscan full body scanners at Murtala Mohammed International Airport  Lagos, Nnamdi  Azikwe International Airport, Abuja,  Port Harcourt and Kano Airports as well as 22 walk-through metal detectors and 14 baggage scanning machines installed at various airports including the Presidential wings.

The FAAN   Managing Director,  Frank Aisegbogun who decried the state of infrastructure at the 20 other airports, told the senators  that the agency had procured 2,500KVA generators to replace the existing ones at Muritala Murhammadu and Abuja airports in the bid to improve power generation at the airports.

He, however, explained that only two of the 22 existing airports being managed and administered by the agency were self-sustaining, while the remaining 20 were in poor state and funded by the revenue generated from the two functional airports.

Regrettably, the NCAA boss could not give  the Senators  a picture of the internally generated revenue (IGR) from various agencies but promised to do so at the next meeting

On non-payment of compensation to families of the victims of the three aircrafts namely, Sosoliso, ADC and Bellview, the NCAA boss noted that the delay by the insurance companies to pay was  caused by various litigations and multiple claims by the families of the victims.

Earlier in his speech ,  Chairman of the Committee , Senator Sylvester Anyanwu had noted that the aviation industry was highly sensitive to the economic growth of the nation, hence, it required intensive work and oversight functions to ensure that it reached its maximum development level.

Senator Anyanwu also noted that though  there had been some appreciable changes in the Nigerian Airports, in the areas of acquisition of new aircrafts, and the  Category 1 status of the runways, upgrading of the Enugu International Airport, much needed to be done to improve the system.

He challenged the committee, and the ministry and its parastatals to ensure that the nation’s airports are safe and effective.

Nneka Amaechi- Nnadi, Abuja